on tour with tool

2001-08-23 - MESHUGGAH SUPPORTS TOOL FOR ARENA TOUR
Swedish math rock gods Meshuggah make the leap to the mainstream by supporting Billboard-topping artist Tool on the next leg of their sold-out U.S. tour. After coming off the road with Slayer in 1998 in support of their highly acclaimed Chaosphere album, which prompted Rolling Stone magazine to call them “one of the 10 best hard and heavy bands,” Meshuggah left the public’s eye to concentrate on new material and their personal lives. They emerged again in early 2001 to headline the sold-out New England Metal and Hardcore Festival in Worcester, MA. The band repeatedly turned down tour offers this year in order to concentrate on creating the next album; however, they couldn’t refuse the offer Tool extended. The musical complexity of these two bands seems incongruous at first. Drummer Tomas Haake agrees but points out that, “Tool is very dynamic, and Meshuggah is a constant, maximum power experience.” Complexity delivered in two extremes.

August 21st saw the release of Meshuggah’s latest album, Rare Trax, a collection of rare outtakes, b-sides and video clips. The band will do one U.S. tour with Tool to promote the album before returning to Sweden to finish work on the proper follow-up to Chaosphere, tentatively called Turbulance.
The following dates are confirmed: